10 Things You Didn't Know About Amanda Palmer
2. And A World-Famous Poet
Although primarily a songwriter, Amanda frequently shares poetry with fans both at her shows and online. One of her best known works, "a poem for dzhokhar" was published on her blog a few days after the 2013 attack at the Boston Marathon. The poem was a stream-of-consciousness sequence that was seemingly addressed to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two men who carried out the attack. The poem provoked angry responses from readers who felt it was too sympathetic to the alleged bomber. Amanda was accused with sympathising with Dshokhar and even received death threats after the poem was picked up by a local new channel.
Palmer stated in a subsequent post that the poem was written in under ten minutes, and that much of it was misinterpreted, both by its fans and its detractors. Among other things, it was a means for Amanda to deal with her own feelings of helplessness after the attack and the widespread confusion and entrapment felt by residents of Boston as the city went into lock-down after the bombing.
It was only later that Palmer discovered that she had inadvertently published the poem on Americas National Poetry Day. The poem was the most widely-read, and commented on, piece released on that day. It also sparked a series of poetic responses from both supporters and detractors, many of which were posted to Palmer's blog.